


Dysania

by i_kinda_like_writing



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Love, M/M, Mathematics, Pining, Platonic Cuddling, References to Shakespeare, Self-Esteem Issues, Sharing a Bed, and the one time they didn't, basically it's a thousand times nursey and dex slept together platonically, both math and shakespeare are just plot devices for love, but only momentarily, so soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-16 04:29:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11821263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_kinda_like_writing/pseuds/i_kinda_like_writing
Summary: Dysania: the state of finding it difficult to get out of bed in the morning.Dex and Nursey live across the hall from one another their sophomore year.Nursey's roommate has a tendency to sexile him at the worst of times.Dex has a single.The only obvious solution? Dex opens up his bed to a friend in need.





	Dysania

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I wrote this as a simple little thing involving a headcanon I put in almost all of my fics; their sophomore year, Dex and Nursey have dorms opposite each other, and Nursey's roommate is horrible while Dex has a single dorm. So this is the result of that line of thinking! I also wrote I Know You which could probably be considered as a prequel to this fic, so check that out if you want :)  
> Possible trigger warning in the fact that there are some pretty heavy self-esteem issues dealt with towards the end of the fic, so just be mindful of that.  
> Enjoy!

          There is a persistent knocking at Dex’s door, and when he checks his phone, charging by the head of his bed, it tells him that it is 2:09 in the morning. He has practice in six hours and a class starting soon after that. Everything in his body tells him to turn over and get the rest of his designated sleep.

         The knocking doesn’t stop.

         He gets up.

         He pulls open the door, half ready to swing at whoever is on the other side, only to find a shirtless, sleep-mussed Derek Nurse standing there with a pillow clutched at his side.

          “My roommate is having make-up sex with his girlfriend in our room,” he says, rubbing at his face, voice husky with sleep.

          Dex grunts and then turns to go back to bed. He leaves the door open.

          Nursey shuts it after following Dex inside and then proceeds to lie down on Dex’s floor, curling around his pillow.

          Dex falls asleep soon after that.

 

*~*~*

 

          Dex’s laptop tells him that it’s 11:42. For a break from the words, he calculates the time until the assignment he’s writing is due. It has to be printed and presented by 10:00 A.M. tomorrow morning, when he shows up to class. That means he has ten hours and eighteen minutes to finish writing, not counting walking- more like running- time to the one computer lab on campus that doesn’t charge to print and then all the way to the class on the other side of Samwell.

         He’s taking a class on Shakespearean literature to fulfill a credit and he’s detested every minute of it so far. If he was wordy enough to appreciate the language Shakespeare uses, maybe he wouldn’t mind it, but aside from that, he mostly hates every plot. Prior to this class, he’d only read _Romeo and Juliet_ during tenth grade English, and all he’d managed to get from the story is that children should not be getting married.

          Fortunately- or horribly, either works- someone knocks on Dex’s door at this precise moment, cutting off his rambling sentence about how Shakespeare is basically just an amalgamation of fancy dick jokes. He blinks, wondering if maybe he’s gone completely crazy and is imagining sounds now. Then the knocking comes again, along with a voice asking, “Dex? You up?”

          Nursey again.

Dex stands, not realizing until just this moment how cramped his entire body is from curling over his computer, and walks over to his door. He pulls it open, revealing a pajama-clad Nursey holding a pillow and a blanket. Dex frowns at him. “Roommate again?”

          Nursey makes a face. “I was just getting into bed when they came in, attached at the mouth. They were naked within minutes.”

          “Gross.” Dex mirrors Nursey’s disgusted expression. “Come in, I guess.” He turns, leaving the door open. Nursey takes the invitation and walks in, shutting the door behind him. He takes in Dex’s open laptop and lit lights.

          “You still working?” He stands in the middle of the room, looking a bit lost. Dex grumbles, picking his laptop up off his bed and putting it on his desk.

          “Analysis essay. Shakespeare.” Dex frowns down at his computer, wondering vaguely if he can make the entire assignment burst into flames just by glaring at it.

          Nursey laughs softly. “You’re looking at it like it’s gonna steal your soul.”

          “It just might,” Dex mutters darkly, to which Nursey emits a delighted, surprised laugh. Dex shakes his head. “You can take the bed. I’m not sleeping until it’s done.”

          As Dex takes a seat at his desk, back already complaining at the new awkward strain, Nursey slips under the blankets on Dex’s bed, laying his head on his own pillow. Dex reads over what he’s written so far, deleting the parts where he started ranting mid-essay so he doesn’t forget later and accidentally hand in an assignment calling Shakespeare “the original fuckboy”. He gets to the end of the essay and sees that he’s pages short of the minimum and groans, dropping his head onto the keyboard in a desperate hope that his skull will come up with better analysis than his brain has thus far.

          “What’s it on?” Nursey asks, voice soft, sleep-warmed. Dex turns, raising his head just slightly. Nursey’s face is crushed against the pillow he brought, wrinkles marring his cheek. His hair is an absolute mess, one eye is squished shut, and the blankets are pulled over his shoulders like a shield. Still, his lips are just curved at the edges, showing if not sincerity then honest superiority, and Dex is willing to take whatever he can get right now.

          So he tells Nursey about which play they’re reading and what the assignment is on, and Nursey begins to ask him questions. Why he thinks a character did what they did, what the result was, how it reflects the overall theme of the play, what Dex thinks the overall theme of the play even was. This goes on for nearly half an hour, just Nursey asking questions and Dex answering them. It’s 12:26 by the time Nursey is out of questions, and with his last answer, Dex realizes that he has enough to finish the essay. He has to rework some things so that it’s consistent throughout, but now he has enough to talk about to meet the minimum and more.

          “Whoa.” He stares at the Google Doc he had hated so adamantly just an hour before and is a bit shocked. He looks at Nursey, who is smiling sleepily, eyes blinking slowly every other second. “Thank you,” he says, as sincere as he can manage, and Nursey’s smile spreads into a grin that smushes into the pillow.

          “Anytime, Poinmeister.”

          As Nursey turns over to get some sleep, Dex reworks and finishes his essay within another hour. He rereads it three times for typos and then resolves to do it once more in the morning before he prints it and then stands from the desk, shutting his laptop. He cracks his back, turning back and forth to get the kinks out of it, and then bends over to touch his toes. Straightening up, he sighs, sending his bed an envious look. He would love to sleep on an actual mattress, but it’s not nearly big enough for the both of them, especially not with the way Nursey is spread across it. Dex rummages under his bed and pulls out the down-comforter he has stored for the winter months and makes a shitty but useable mattress out of it. After shimmying a pillow out from under Nursey’s head, Dex lays down on his make-shift bed and falls asleep promptly, the exhaustion hitting him.

 

*~*~*

 

          Dex got the privilege of Nursey Patrol at tonight’s kegster, meaning he is the one who has to make sure that Nursey gets home in one piece. Or, at least, ends up buried under a mountain of trash safely cocooned in the Haus. Sadly for Dex, it’s the former, and their walk home has been nothing short of horrible, with Nursey’s drunk ass trying to compose poetry for every leaf that falls on the sidewalk. Dex has finally, _finally_ managed to get them both back to their building, onto the floor they both live on, and in front Nursey’s door, right across from Dex’s own, and-

          “What do you mean you don’t have the key?” Dex is not here for this shit tonight. He has had a hard twenty-four hours, with the game last night being hard fought and his comp-sci professor asking him if he’s even passionate about computer programming at all and Dex not knowing the answer and that girl from the gym not appreciating him turning her down for a date, and all he wants to do is lie down and go to sleep for a very long time. Or until at least eleven tomorrow.

          “I gave it to Bitty,” Nursey slurs, mouth pressed against Dex’s shoulder. The rest of Nursey is pressed against Dex’s side because Drunk Nursey- an entity that deserves its own capitals- doesn’t know how to stand without support. Dex, it seems, is the only support available at the moment. The most aggravating part of this is that Dex is nowhere near as annoyed about it as he should be.

          “Why did you give your key to Bitty?” Dex asks, trying to be patient when all he wants to do is drop Nursey on the ground and go to bed.

          “I’m drunk, Dexy-poo.” Nursey smiles, which would be charming on Sober Nursey, but on Drunk Nursey it’s just sloppy and all-together discomfiting. And maybe a little endearing. But Dex is _not acknowledging_ _that._ “I can’t drive. I shouldn’t have keys.”

          Dex feels his eye twitching. “Nurse. _You don’t have a car_.” Despite himself, he feels his heart rate pick up and his breathing quicken in his anger.

          Nursey makes a hopelessly confused face. “Then why did I give Bitty my keys?”

          Dex is going to drop him, really he is, he’s going drop him right onto the floor and leave him there for early morning joggers to step on, but-

          Nursey’s face is twisted with his confusion, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed, and he’s so hopeless- and maybe just a bit adorable- that Dex sighs. It isn’t Drunk Nursey’s fault that he’s so stupid. It’s Sober Nursey’s fault for drinking in the first place. Dex can’t punish him now. He sighs, lugging Nursey across the hall to Dex’s own dorm. As he fumbles with his key, he contents himself with the knowledge that he can wake hungover Nursey up with loud noises and, possibly, water dumped over his head.

          Once inside, Dex sets up a bed on the floor for Nursey using the comforter it still isn’t cold enough to use yet and a sleeping bag Dex has for some reason. He lends Nursey one of his pillows and then begins undressing for bed. Nursey does the same, though he has no pajamas to change into, leaving him pant-less and shirtless and too much to look at. Dex turns over in his own bed so he doesn’t have to look at the spectacle that is Derek Nurse and grumbles himself to sleep.

          The last thing he registers before he falls asleep is a soft, “Goodnight,” from Nursey.

 

*~*~*

 

          Nursey shows up just around midnight that night, a rare night when Dex is asleep at this time, carrying the usual pillow and blanket. Dex grunts and turns to go back to bed. He blinks his eyes open a few minutes later, though, to see Nursey standing over his bed.

          “I don’t wanna sleep on the floor,” he says. “We have a game tomorrow.”

          Dex grunts again, but rolls over so there’s enough room for Nursey to fit. He falls asleep before Nursey even gets in.

 

*~*~*

 

          At seven o’clock, about, there’s a knock at Dex’s door. He has some rare free-time and is catching up on one of the few shows he likes. He pauses the episode reluctantly and gets up to open the door. Nursey is standing there, holding a binder, a pencil, and a calculator. He says, “I hate math,” and Dex lets him in.

          Dex takes a seat on his bed and watches Nursey do the same at Dex’s desk. “What’re you having issues with?” he asks.

          “All of it.” Nursey opens his binder and takes a packet of stapled papers out of it. He flaps it at Dex helplessly. “It doesn’t make sense,” he whines, distinctly unchill.

          Dex sighs and takes the packet from him, looking it over. It’s stuff he understands, likes even, so he puts it down on his desk and stands next to Nursey to explain the basics of the concepts behind the problem sets. They go through each one carefully, Dex explaining when Nursey doesn’t understand, and soon they’ve answered every question. Nursey says that he’ll have to double-check it with the answers his study group came up with, but that he feels a lot better about his capabilities in the subject.

          It’s around nine when they’ve finished up, and Nursey stands to go. The part of Dex that doesn’t control his impulses well- the same part that made him grind on Ransom his frog year (much to Ransom’s amusement)- makes an abortive noise before Dex can snap his mouth closed. Nursey turns to look at him, an inquiring look on his face- confused and a bit teasing, just like all of Nursey’s expressions towards Dex. Dex sighs, forcing himself to be normal, and says, “You can stay, if you want. I’ve got _Brooklyn Nine-Nine_ up on my laptop.”

          Nursey’s expression turns upwards with pleasant surprise. “You watch B-99?”

          “Chowder lent me his Hulu password to watch it.” Dex shrugs. “It’s funny.”

          “Damn right it is, move over.” With that, Nursey is sitting on Dex’s bed, shuffling over to make enough room for Dex to sit too, and they’re watching _Brooklyn Nine-Nine_ with the laptop resting on both of their laps. They go through a couple episodes and then Jake has a line that’s so funny it makes Dex turn to share his laughter with Nursey, only to find him asleep.

          As delicately as he can, Dex picks his laptop up and slides it onto his desk without disturbing Nursey. Nursey curls up once the laptop is removed, facing the wall next to Dex’s bed. Dex turns off the light, turns onto his side, and falls asleep as well.

 

*~*~*

 

          It’s three in the morning. Someone is knocking on his door. Five hours earlier, the entire Samwell Men’s Hockey team returned to campus after a crushing defeat, each one of them tired and a bit sad. Nursey and Dex made sure the tadpoles got back to their building before turning and going to their own. After a sleepy nod of goodnight at one another, they entered their separate rooms. Dex got dressed for bed, slipped under his blankets, and tried to tell himself that he didn’t miss Nursey’s weight next to him. It didn’t quite work, as he’s been tossing and turning for most of the night.

          He gets up and answers the door.

          Nursey stands there, sleep mussed as always, and doesn’t say a thing. He just looks at Dex, eyes a little red around the rims, and it’s enough. Dex turns, knowing Nursey will follow him, and gets back into bed. When he feels Nursey slip in next to him, sleep takes him easily.

 

*~*~*

 

          Dex unlocks the hotel room- as he’s the only one of the two of them allowed to have a key card, now, after seven separate lost cards on Nursey’s part- and the pair sleepily shuffles into their room for the night. They won tonight’s game, but every d-man on the team is sore after Holster’s sprained ankle kept him out of this week’s games. Dex’s shoulders ache and Nursey is favoring his left leg, his right knee being messed up from a bad check tonight.

         They get ready for bed in mostly silence, aside from a few murmurs and grunts. When he finishes brushing his teeth, Dex comes out of the bathroom and pauses in the entranceway to the bedroom.  Nursey is already in one of the beds, the one he put his stuff by when they walked into the room. Nursey never picks the bed by the window, and the one time he mentioned why was after getting drunk at a party held by the team they had played. The views from high-up hotel rooms reminded Nursey of New York, apparently, and it wasn’t something he liked remembering.

          Without thinking too hard on it- because if he was thinking he would never do this- he slips into the bed with Nursey. Nursey raises his head a little, sleepy but aware, and pauses momentarily when he sees Dex in his bed. Then he smiles softly and lies back down. “Goodnight, Dexy,” he says.

          “Night, Nursey.”

          Nursey blinks sleepily. “You never call me Nursey.”

          “Go to sleep.”

          Nursey grins and closes his eyes. Dex waits a while before he does the same, taking in Nursey’s soft features, relaxed expression, and overwhelming beauty while he can.

 

*~*~*

 

          It’s almost midnight when Dex hears someone fiddling with his doorknob. He blinks, trying to fight his exhaustion after cramming for his midterms, and sits up in his bed. He frowns at the door just as it’s pushed open.

          Nursey stands in the doorway, fumbling a bit as he pulls the key from the lock, and then looks up to see Dex in bed, shirtless and sleepy. He smiles and comes in, closing the door behind him. He holds up his hand, brandishing something. “Key works.”

          “Hurry up and get in,” Dex grumbles, turning over. He has a long drive ahead of him tomorrow morning and he needs his sleep.

          “Pushy, pushy,” Nursey says, huffing a soft laughing. There’s some rustling as Nursey presumably takes off his shirt and then movement on the mattress behind Dex as Nursey gets in.

          “I have a four hour bus ride in front of me,” Dex says, mouth pressed against his pillow. “I need my rest. Or beauty sleep, like you call it.”

          Another huff of a laugh, except this time on the back of Dex’s neck. Dex shivers. “Oh, yeah, sorry. Forgot about break.”

          Dex frowns into his pillow. Nursey forgot about Thanksgiving break? He wakes his sleeping muscles and throws himself around to face Nursey. Nursey won’t look at him, and the shitty smile on his face is visibly tight. He’s forcing himself into composure. Chill.

          “What are you doing for break?” he asks, trying to get Nursey to look at him.

          “Staying in the Haus. No one’s there, so there’ll be room.”

          Dex feels his frown deepen. He reaches up and presses his fingers into Nursey cheek to get him to look at Dex. When he does, the pain behind his eyes, so panicked and resigned, hurts Dex somewhere deep in his chest where he puts most of the things he feels about Nursey. He says, “Come to Maine with me,” just like that, without thinking, and so much of Dex’s actions around Nursey are done without thinking, but when Nursey’s eyes brighten and his smile is a lot less forced but only a little less shitty, Dex can’t care at all.

 

*~*~*

 

          It’s late when they get back from Maine. They both have practice tomorrow to make sure everyone’s still in tip-top shape after break, and as they reach their floor, Nursey mumbles something about not wanting to see his roommate, so they go back to Dex’s dorm. Neither of them wants to dig through their suitcases for pajamas, so they strip to their underwear and get under Dex’s blankets.

          Without communicating, Dex finds his chest pressed to Nursey’s back, his arm around Nursey’s waist, his legs tangled in Nursey’s own. They fall asleep like that, a line crossed they’ve never quite reached before. Bed sharing is one thing. Spooning is something very different. Still, it makes Dex feel settled and happy in his stomach, so he ignores the cruel churning of bitterness telling him that this won’t last, that it’s not enough, that he’s going to ruin this like he ruins everything else.

          In the morning, the only other person with Dex’s key pushes open his dorm room door with a bright cheery smile on his face. “Welcome home!” Chowder cheers. “It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been here, hasn’t it?  How was your break? Mine was-” Chowder cuts himself off as Dex sits up in bed, rubbing at the sleep in his eyes, revealing a mostly-naked Nursey next to him. Chowder’s eyes widen, his mouth dropping open for a moment, before a wide smile settles on his lips. “Are you guys dating?”

          Dex blinks, panic possessing him for a moment before he remembers that this is Samwell, not his hometown, and that this is Chowder, not his ex-best-friend who spread the news of Poindexter’s inclinations around the whole school. Forcing himself calm, Dex says, “No. We just crashed here after we got back.”

          “We’re cuddle-buddies, C.” Nursey is smiling sleepily over at Chowder. “It’s chill.”

          Several different emotions pass over Chowder’s face, but he eventually nods and says, “Well, you buddies better get dressed. We do have practice after all.”

 

*~*~*

 

          Dex unlocks his door and pushes it open, sighing as he squishes into his room. It started pouring just as he left the library and he’s soaked from head to toe. He pushes his hand through his wet hair, trying to get it out of his eyes, and curses himself for ever growing it longer. Just because Nursey said it looked good and Dex has a stupid burning desire to look good for Nursey doesn’t mean he should go around doing every little thing Nursey suggests, and really, who is he kidding? A guy like Nursey would never-

          Dex stops mid-rant to see Nursey sitting on his bed. He’s wearing a large sweater that is so uncool it’s jarring to see on Nursey’s shoulders. It takes Dex too long to identify the sweater as his. Nursey has pulled his legs up against his chest, his arms around them, and his face pressed into the tops of his knees. Dex looks at him, sitting there rocking slightly, and has a split desire to both comfort Nursey as tenderly as possible and to _hurt_ whoever did this to Nursey as violently as Dex can manage.

          The former wins out and he finds himself struggling out of his wet clothes to get into suitable attire so he can sit next to Nursey. Deciding that a dry pair of pajama pants is enough, Dex climbs in next to Nursey and throws an arm around his shoulders without hesitation, pulling him close. “What’s wrong?” he asks, trying to keep the worry from shaking his words.

          “I-” Nursey stops. He takes a deep breath, making his shoulders rise and fall under Dex’s arm. “It’s nothing serious. I just.” He turns, resting his cheek against his knees, giving Dex a broken smile. His eyes and cheeks are wet and Dex wants to break whoever had the audacity to hurt Nursey like this. “I couldn’t look in the mirror.”

          Dex blinks. “What?”

          Nursey turns his head away. “My dad called and, I don’t know. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and every time I looked in the mirror I just- I wanted to hit it. I didn’t- I didn’t want to be me. I don’t.”

          It takes Dex a moment to compose himself, let alone an answer. He knows this feeling well; looking into a mirror and hating the pastiness, the lankiness, the everything. Other times it wasn’t as superficial; he wasn’t smart enough, he wasn’t kind enough, he wasn’t strong enough. Sometimes he hated every part of himself and begged God to change him, to put him somewhere else. Sometimes he just asked why he was who he was.

          But Nursey? Nursey was everything Dex wished he could be. Composed under pressure, beautiful from every angle, effortlessly confident, suave and smooth and charismatic- Dex could go on endlessly. How could someone like Nursey feel this way? Dex knows asking this wouldn’t get him anywhere, but just the thought of it seems bizarre. Even still, he doesn’t know how to make the feeling go away. He never managed it himself, not without a night of sleeping it off and feeling better in the morning.

          Then he gets an idea. “Nursey, look at me.” Nursey looks up, his broken expression cracking something in Dex’s chest. Dex maneuvers them so they’re facing one another. He curls his fingers around Nursey’s ankles, squeezing in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. “I see a strong jaw. Wide, imposing. A bit of stubble-”

          “Dex, what-”

          “Big mouth,” Dex says, over Nursey’s confusion. “Wide too, like the jaw. Plush, and when you do the duck-lips in selfies when you’re drunk they’re ridiculous.” Dex smiles at that. “Thick eyebrows, but maintained nicely because you’re crazy about that stuff. But it pays off, so I can’t make fun of you for it. Ridiculous green eyes, and they are _ridiculous_ , because, like. They’re every shade of green I ever saw up in Maine and, when I saw them for the first time I got homesick.” Dex swallows and it feels rough on his throat. It’s too close, he knows, too revealing, but- “A rich person nose.”

          “What-” Nursey laughs wetly, smiling even as his eyes well up. “That isn’t a thing.”

          “Yes it is. You have one. And it’s very dignified and annoying, just like you.” Dex reaches up and squeezes one of Nursey’s hands. “And your hair is soft and cool and always changing, also like you. You are always surprising, always catching me off-guard. But you’re also the same, because you’re always _good_ , or you always try to be, and that’s really the same thing. Okay? You get it?” Dex leans in, trying to be as sincere as he can be. “Whenever you can’t look in the mirror, come to me. I’ll be the mirror. Alright? Okay? Whenever.”

          “Dex-” Nursey shakes his head, but he’s still smiling. “Okay. Okay.”

          Dex sighs, the relief welling up in his chest. His head falls forwards and somehow brushes the tops of Nursey’s knees. Okay. _Okay_.

          “Let’s go to sleep,” he says, voice quiet. Nursey hums and that’s his only response. They wiggle their way under the blankets without changing their clothes, and curl around each other in every way they can; fingers around fingers, arms around waists, shins over knees, cheeks side by side. This is enough, Dex tells himself, because it is.

 

*~*~*

 

          It’s two forty one. Dex has an early morning class. He gets up without hesitation and pulls open his dorm door, confused. Nursey always uses his key now, has for the past couple of months since Dex gave it to him. Sometimes Dex wakes up in the morning with Nursey in his bed, and it’s a pleasant wake up every time. Dex has no idea why he isn’t using it now.

          When he opens the door, Nursey is leaning heavily against the doorjamb, eyes hazy. He smells like alcohol and Dex almost coughs at the stench. “Nursey? What’s going on?”

          “You-you weren’t here,” Nursey slurs, falling forwards a little. Dex catches him and helps him into the room, sitting him down on the bed and going back to close the door. When he returns to the bed, Nursey is mumbling something about how he “tried” and “couldn’t do it”.

          “Nursey? What’s going on? Are you okay?” Dex kneels down in front of him, trying to get Nursey to focus on him, and Nursey’s eyes lazily drag across him.

          “Came over,” he mumbles. “Weren’t here.” Dex frowns but easily realizes what Nursey is talking about. He slept at the Haus last night, after staying up too late fixing the dryer for the fortieth time- he’s close to getting all the money for a new one, Jack just has to visit one more time- and never came back to his dorm. Nursey must’ve come over to sleep and found it empty. But why is he acting like this? “Couldn’t-couldn’t stand it. You with someone else.” Drunk Nursey whimpers. “Please don’t. Don’t leave.”

          “I’m not leaving, Nursey, I won’t leave. Okay? How about you lie down, alright? Let’s lie down.” Dex helps Nursey get out of his coat and then lays him down on the bed. He pulls the blankets up around Nursey’s shoulders, squeezing him lightly to try and comfort him.

          Nursey closes his eyes, smiles, and mumbles, “Love you, Dexy,” into the pillow.

          Dex tries not to take it literally, romantically, but- but Nursey was upset thinking Dex was with someone else last night. He was jealous, it seems. And the touches, the lingering looks the past few months- Dex thought he was making them up, but maybe-

          Dex shakes himself of the thought. He has an early class and he needs to sleep. This can be dealt with tomorrow. He doesn’t feel comfortable sleeping in the same bed with Drunk Nursey after that, so he makes himself a bed on the floor and goes to sleep.

          In the morning, Nursey is still asleep and Dex has to leave, so he dresses and leaves with a long look at Nursey’s sleeping form.

 

*~*~*

 

          Dex sits at his desk in his dorm after he gets back from class, jittery with the thoughts that have been running around his brain all day. Nursey might love him back. _Nursey_. The boy Dex has loved for so long. His defensive partner. His best friend. His cuddle buddy. God, even the thought is enough to light a spark of bliss in his chest. He tries not to get his hopes up, but he can’t help it. Nursey might love him.

          Around six, there’s a knock at his door. He stands up shakily, rubbing at his hair nervously to smooth it into something presentable, and then walks over to the door. He opens it to find Nursey standing there, fidgeting with his hands shoved in the Samwell hoodie he’s wearing. Dex moves out of the way so Nursey can come in. As Dex closes the door behind him, Nursey stands in the middle of the dorm, shifting his weight from foot to foot. He won’t look at Dex. Dex waits.

          “So,” he says finally, eyes fixated on a point just behind Dex’s head.

          “So.” Dex can be just as difficult.

Nursey bites at his lip, finally looking Dex in the eye. “You know.”

          Dex raises an eyebrow. “Know what?”

          “God, Dex.” Nursey huffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Know that I- that I love you.” Dex inhales sharply, the instant euphoria at hearing Sober Nursey say it overwhelming. He smiles despite himself and Nursey frowns, visibly confused. “What- what are you smiling for?”

          “You’re so dense, Nursey,” Dex says, laughter in his voice. “I’ve loved you for ages.”

          The defensiveness in Nursey’s posture falls away, leaving wide eyes and twitching fingers. “What?”

          Dex shakes his head, smiling stupidly, and takes two quick steps forwards to press his mouth to Nursey’s. He’s laughing too much and Nursey’s still a bit confused, but once he calms down and Nursey realizes what’s happening, it’s magic. Perfect pressure, perfect wetness, just- just perfect. Dex pulls back first, his hands around Nursey’s jaw, thumbs pressed into the hollows of his cheeks. Nursey has curled his fingers into Dex’s shirt, right at his hips, and his eyes are wide and awed as they blink at Dex.

          “Guess we can-” Nursey cuts himself off, swallowing a little. His lips quirk. “Guess we can really sleep together now, huh?”

          “ _Shut up_ ,” Dex laughs, and buries his face in Nursey’s neck. Nursey’s arms come up around his back, holding him, and Dex smiles into Nursey’s skin.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this fic! Feel free to leave kudos or comments, as I adore both.  
> Thanks for reading :)


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